Programs & Events

COMMUNITY EVENTS

Economics of Happiness Conference

March 15 – 17, 2013
Byron Bay, Australia

This year’s Economics of Happiness conference will focus on the multiple benefits of localization, an economic strategy that can take us away from jobless growth towards sustainable livelihoods; from giant, unaccountable corporations towards human-scale business; from self-recrimination towards empowerment; from competition to collaboration; from a globalized system of exploitation and pollution towards an economics of human and ecological well-being, or “an economics of happiness.”

Around the world, the realization is dawning that the crises we face are linked to an outdated economic system. From unemployment and poverty to Wall Street corruption, from Fukushima to climate change, from hydro-fracking to the rise of fear and fundamentalism: all these diverse problems share a common root cause. As they intensify, a chorus of citizen voices is rising up in response. People are demanding an end to the exploitation of the many and of Nature for the profit of the few. Increasingly, we know what we’re against. It’s now time to decide what we’re for. And how to get from here to there.

The conference will cover a range of inter-connected topics, including public policy choices; local initiatives in food, energy, education, business and banking; the need to bridge the North-South divide; and the influence of the economy on our psychological well-being. Walk Out Walk On friends and partners Manish Jain, Donnie Maclurcan, Bayo Akomolafe and EJ Clement will be presenting at the event.